6/7/13

6/7/13, 4:00pm, The Beijing Center
Today in class we talked about how the air pollution in Beijing is not only a problem in terms of science, but also politically and socially. Political leaders are mostly focused on economic growth. This is something that is also ingrained in American culture. America has given environmental protection more importance than it has in the past, but it is still set aside when economic growth is the other factor involved in a situation. Political leaders in Beijing need to keep the economy growing in order for citizens to stay satisfied. This is a social problem because a lot of people in China are not well informed about what is going on. The Chinese government keeps statistics about the environment as confidential so people are not able to look at what is going on in the environment. So even if Chinese citizens would want to protect the environment, many do not have the education or the means to do so. There are many situations around the world where people are still fighting for their own rights, so environmental protection cannot even take a priority.